Seattle DO - N-400 timeline
- Thread starter slr
- Start date
Passed Interview - Oath in a week
My interview was scheduled at 8:30 AM today. A lady officer called my name at 8:45 AM and started the process. It only took 15 minutes. My oath ceremony is scheduled for next Thursday, 3/16.
During the interview, she first went through the application thoroughly but quickly. She did ask if I ever got a speeding ticket and paid the fine. I answered yes; however, she did not make any notation on the form, nor did she ask for any proof.
I was given 10 civil / history questions. All of them were from the 100 sample questions on the USCIS web site.
The entire process was very straight forward and simple.
Good luck to you all.
Thanks.
Carl
My interview was scheduled at 8:30 AM today. A lady officer called my name at 8:45 AM and started the process. It only took 15 minutes. My oath ceremony is scheduled for next Thursday, 3/16.
During the interview, she first went through the application thoroughly but quickly. She did ask if I ever got a speeding ticket and paid the fine. I answered yes; however, she did not make any notation on the form, nor did she ask for any proof.
I was given 10 civil / history questions. All of them were from the 100 sample questions on the USCIS web site.
The entire process was very straight forward and simple.
Good luck to you all.
Thanks.
Carl
Oath Letter
Thank you, SLR.
At the end of the interview, the officer gave me the Oath Letter. She wrote my name on the letter as well as the date of the Oath.
On the back of the letter, there are 8 yes/no questions that need to be answered on the date of the oath.
Actually, I don't think the letter looks quite formal. However, that is the way it is.
Best of luck to you.
Carl
Thank you, SLR.
At the end of the interview, the officer gave me the Oath Letter. She wrote my name on the letter as well as the date of the Oath.
On the back of the letter, there are 8 yes/no questions that need to be answered on the date of the oath.
Actually, I don't think the letter looks quite formal. However, that is the way it is.
Best of luck to you.
Carl
app_citizen
Registered Users (C)
Interview letter says it takes 2 hours
I got the interview letter. it says that the interview takes 2 hours. Does it really take that long??
I got the interview letter. it says that the interview takes 2 hours. Does it really take that long??
Seattle timeframe (approx 4 months)
Sent N-400 application to Nebraska - 04/18/06
Receipt Date - 04/20/06
Received FP notice on 05/04/06
FP Appointment - 05/31/2006
Received Interview notice on 05/19/06
Interview - 08/8/2006
Oath schduled - 08/17/06
Interview was straightforward. I was asked 6 questions from the civics test.
Remaining questions were just related to what was on my application form.
Seattle officer seemed pretty professional, but serious and to the point. (rather bored of repeatedly doing this day in and out !!!!!!!!!! )
Good luck to all.
Raghu
Sent N-400 application to Nebraska - 04/18/06
Receipt Date - 04/20/06
Received FP notice on 05/04/06
FP Appointment - 05/31/2006
Received Interview notice on 05/19/06
Interview - 08/8/2006
Oath schduled - 08/17/06
Interview was straightforward. I was asked 6 questions from the civics test.
Remaining questions were just related to what was on my application form.
Seattle officer seemed pretty professional, but serious and to the point. (rather bored of repeatedly doing this day in and out !!!!!!!!!! )
Good luck to all.
Raghu
AwaySooner
Registered Users (C)
Thanks for the update guys. Here's my timeline.
Sent N-400 application to Nebraska - 06/21/06
Receipt Date - 06/26/06
Received Receipt notice - 07/08/06
Received FP notice on 07/09/06
FP Appointment - 07/25/2006
Received Interview notice - 08/30/2006
Interview Schedule - 10/23/2006
Oath schduled - TBD
My fingerprint was scheduled at 2pm but I got there at 1:30pm, and have to wait for about 2 hours.
Sent N-400 application to Nebraska - 06/21/06
Receipt Date - 06/26/06
Received Receipt notice - 07/08/06
Received FP notice on 07/09/06
FP Appointment - 07/25/2006
Received Interview notice - 08/30/2006
Interview Schedule - 10/23/2006
Oath schduled - TBD
My fingerprint was scheduled at 2pm but I got there at 1:30pm, and have to wait for about 2 hours.
Last edited by a moderator:
AwaySooner
Registered Users (C)
Had my interview today. Appointment at 1:30pm, waited for about half an hour, the interview was over in 15 minutes. The officer was not very friendly but didn't give me any hard time. Basically just ask questions about the application. I checked yes for citation and told him I have a speeding ticket. He didn't check any documents I brought at all. I was given oath letter right away and scheduled for Oct 30 Monday.
Sent N-400 application to Nebraska - 06/21/06
Receipt Date - 06/26/06
Received Receipt notice - 07/08/06
Received FP notice on 07/09/06
FP Appointment - 07/25/2006
Received Interview notice - 08/30/2006
Interview Schedule - 10/23/2006
Oath schduled - 10/30/2006
Sent N-400 application to Nebraska - 06/21/06
Receipt Date - 06/26/06
Received Receipt notice - 07/08/06
Received FP notice on 07/09/06
FP Appointment - 07/25/2006
Received Interview notice - 08/30/2006
Interview Schedule - 10/23/2006
Oath schduled - 10/30/2006
Mailed N-400
I've been a permanent resident since 1/23/02; so I could apply on 10/25/06 (5 years - 90 days.) I waited a couple more days just to be safe, and mailed it in today.
For those who like these details:
Now for the wait, the hardest part of all this for a Type-A person like me.
UPDATE on 11/2/06: They cashed my check! exactly one week from mailing the application to cashing the check.
I've been a permanent resident since 1/23/02; so I could apply on 10/25/06 (5 years - 90 days.) I waited a couple more days just to be safe, and mailed it in today.
For those who like these details:
- Used a personal check for the application fee, so that I would know when it was cashed
- Check was for $400 ($330 application fee + $70 biometric fee) ,wrote my A# in the memo line
- Used Express Mail ($14.40 flat rate envelope)
- Kept everything together in the envelope with an Acco fastener
- Kept copies of everything
Now for the wait, the hardest part of all this for a Type-A person like me.
UPDATE on 11/2/06: They cashed my check! exactly one week from mailing the application to cashing the check.
Last edited by a moderator:
AwaySooner
Registered Users (C)
I took my oath on Monday and I am now US Citizen! My journey is over, but it's time to start my wife's. 
"Just when I am trying to get out, they pull me back in!" One cool thing they did during the ceramony was to name each country in attendance. We have 93 people that day. I am the only Malaysian. Took me 11 years from F1 to OPT to H1B to GC to Citizenship.
Anyway, I took my Certicate to update my Social Security yesterday and apply for passport today. Unfortunately, the City of Kirkland insisted that they have to staple my naturalization certificate along with the passport application or it would be returned. I pleaded 3 times and finally gave up. Worst case scenario, I have a US passport. And I being paranoid? Can you blame me?
Sent N-400 application to Nebraska - 06/21/06
Receipt Date - 06/26/06
Received Receipt notice - 07/08/06
Received FP notice on 07/09/06
FP Appointment - 07/25/2006
Received Interview notice - 08/30/2006
Interview Schedule - 10/23/2006
Oath schduled - 10/30/2006
"Just when I am trying to get out, they pull me back in!" One cool thing they did during the ceramony was to name each country in attendance. We have 93 people that day. I am the only Malaysian. Took me 11 years from F1 to OPT to H1B to GC to Citizenship.Anyway, I took my Certicate to update my Social Security yesterday and apply for passport today. Unfortunately, the City of Kirkland insisted that they have to staple my naturalization certificate along with the passport application or it would be returned. I pleaded 3 times and finally gave up. Worst case scenario, I have a US passport. And I being paranoid? Can you blame me?
Sent N-400 application to Nebraska - 06/21/06
Receipt Date - 06/26/06
Received Receipt notice - 07/08/06
Received FP notice on 07/09/06
FP Appointment - 07/25/2006
Received Interview notice - 08/30/2006
Interview Schedule - 10/23/2006
Oath schduled - 10/30/2006
My Fingerprinting Experience
I had my fingerprints taken today at the USCIS facility in Tukwila, near Seattle. My appointment was in the afternoon.
As is my practice before any important occasion, I did a recon of the building a few days ago to get an idea of the best route, the driving time, parking locations, and what the building looks like.
The facility is a vast improvement over the old INS digs in Seattle. For one thing, there wasn't a long line of people waiting outside the building.
Plenty of parking is available at the USCIS lot for $5. The attendant can give you change for a bill as large as $20; any larger than that and you're out of luck.
It's been raining buckets around here for a few weeks; so I carry an umbrella around with me. As I walked from the parking lot to the building today, I passed about a dozen people who were cold, wet, and miserable without an umbrella.
Walking into the building, you're immediately met by a security guard who asks for ID. There doesn't seem to be a purpose to this, since the ID isn't checked against anything else; Mohammed Atta could walk in there without an appointment.
More effective is the screening, which is similar to airport security checks, except:
The lady called all the people (two) in line 1 first, one by one. Then line 3 and then line 2. I presume this is to maximize the throughput of the system.
I presented my fingerprinting notice and Green Card. She looked at them, and handed me a ticket number (H252) and a form to fill out. She told me to go to a waiting area and fill out the form while waiting for my number to be called.
In the waiting area, I filled out the form - name, phone, address, SSN, A#... Why does CIS keep asking me for this information over and over?
There were a couple of TV screens in the waiting room, displaying ticket numbers. They were also announced over a PA system.
These ticketing systems never quite work right at CIS. When I was standing by counter 11, which is where the H numbers were being assigned on the screens, the lady at the counter called me up and said she'd already called my number. I hadn't seen my number on the screens and hadn't heard it over the PA; so there must have been some glitch. (After dealing with me, she kept calling people over the same way.)
A few weeks ago, some idiot parked a giant SUV in a compact spot next to my car. While squeezing into my car, I slammed the door against one of my fingers. It hurt like hell!
With careful tending, the finger went from black-and-blue to perfect. But the nail is still healing, and looks skeezy shades of pink and blue; so I cover it up with a band-aid. I'd cut the band-aid so that it covered only the nail, not the finger.
The lady noticed this and asked if I'd cut myself. I explained, but she said they'd have to "roll" fingers in order to take fingerprints; so I should take the band-aid off. I complied, and she handed me another ticket (191) and let me into the fingerprinting room behind her counter.
USCIS officials sometimes treat applicants like teachers treat schoolchildren. After watching this lady deal with a couple of applicants, I can understand why. One gentleman had filled out just about everything wrong in his application, and she basically had to fill it out for him from his Green Card and driver's license. She asked for his SSN, and he told her, clearly enough that the people waiting in the fingerprinting room could hear. I bet we could do some serious damage to his credit rating if we wanted to
Ordinarily, when dealing with government bureaucracies, I take a good book along to read during the wait. But, from all I've read, fingerprinting at the Seattle office is quite quick; so I didn't bother this time. I was right.
There are about 5 fingerprinting machines in the room, each with a technician. When I went in, they were calling ticket 185. I'd barely waited 10 minutes when my number was called.
My technician seemed to have the sniffles, but she faced away from me every time she sniffed.
The fingerprinting machine is rather like one of those self-service checkout things you see at grocery stores these days. There's a screen, and a glass panel over which they roll your finger instead of scanning a grocery item. The technician spritzes what looks like cleaning solution on the glass every couple of fingers.
The technician rolls your finger over the glass, and the fingerprint appears on the screen as she does. The machine seems to check whether the print is good enough; it shows a warning and beeps if necessary. The technician then redoes the print if a warning popped up.
After she was done with all ten fingers (miraculously she didn't even notice my skeezy bruised nail), she asked me to wait, fill out a customer satisfaction card while I waited, and then hand it to her. With the awesome power USCIS holds over me, I wasn't about to take chances with a non-secret customer feedback form. I put down an attaboy on everything. No doubt some USCIS representative will use these feedback cards as propaganda while he's being grilled by a Congressional committee. A secret survey of immigrants' opinions about CIS might produce slightly different results
While I was filling out the card, a Quality Assurance technician reviewed the prints. They then put down their signature and ID number on my fingerprinting notice.
With this process, I doubt if the FBI sends back very many prints because of their quality.
I was done. I was handed back my fingerprinting notice and Green Card, and exited the building.
The whole thing had taken 45 minutes. I had driven into the parking lot at 2:30 and was driving out of there by 3:15.
Overall, this experience was better than I'd expected.
Mailed N-400: 10/27/06
Priority Date: 10/30/06
Check cashed: 11/2/06
Postmark on FP notice and receipt: 11/7/06
FP: 11/21/06
Interview notice: ?
Interview: ?
Oath: ?
I had my fingerprints taken today at the USCIS facility in Tukwila, near Seattle. My appointment was in the afternoon.
As is my practice before any important occasion, I did a recon of the building a few days ago to get an idea of the best route, the driving time, parking locations, and what the building looks like.
The facility is a vast improvement over the old INS digs in Seattle. For one thing, there wasn't a long line of people waiting outside the building.
Plenty of parking is available at the USCIS lot for $5. The attendant can give you change for a bill as large as $20; any larger than that and you're out of luck.
It's been raining buckets around here for a few weeks; so I carry an umbrella around with me. As I walked from the parking lot to the building today, I passed about a dozen people who were cold, wet, and miserable without an umbrella.
Walking into the building, you're immediately met by a security guard who asks for ID. There doesn't seem to be a purpose to this, since the ID isn't checked against anything else; Mohammed Atta could walk in there without an appointment.
More effective is the screening, which is similar to airport security checks, except:
- You have to take off your watch
- You can keep your shoes on
- The metal detector beeps at just about everyone. I rarely get beeped at airports, but it beeped at me
- The screeners were a little more courteous than most airport screeners
- InfoPass
- Fingerprinting
- Interviews
- I don't recall
The lady called all the people (two) in line 1 first, one by one. Then line 3 and then line 2. I presume this is to maximize the throughput of the system.
I presented my fingerprinting notice and Green Card. She looked at them, and handed me a ticket number (H252) and a form to fill out. She told me to go to a waiting area and fill out the form while waiting for my number to be called.
In the waiting area, I filled out the form - name, phone, address, SSN, A#... Why does CIS keep asking me for this information over and over?
There were a couple of TV screens in the waiting room, displaying ticket numbers. They were also announced over a PA system.
These ticketing systems never quite work right at CIS. When I was standing by counter 11, which is where the H numbers were being assigned on the screens, the lady at the counter called me up and said she'd already called my number. I hadn't seen my number on the screens and hadn't heard it over the PA; so there must have been some glitch. (After dealing with me, she kept calling people over the same way.)
A few weeks ago, some idiot parked a giant SUV in a compact spot next to my car. While squeezing into my car, I slammed the door against one of my fingers. It hurt like hell!
With careful tending, the finger went from black-and-blue to perfect. But the nail is still healing, and looks skeezy shades of pink and blue; so I cover it up with a band-aid. I'd cut the band-aid so that it covered only the nail, not the finger.
The lady noticed this and asked if I'd cut myself. I explained, but she said they'd have to "roll" fingers in order to take fingerprints; so I should take the band-aid off. I complied, and she handed me another ticket (191) and let me into the fingerprinting room behind her counter.
USCIS officials sometimes treat applicants like teachers treat schoolchildren. After watching this lady deal with a couple of applicants, I can understand why. One gentleman had filled out just about everything wrong in his application, and she basically had to fill it out for him from his Green Card and driver's license. She asked for his SSN, and he told her, clearly enough that the people waiting in the fingerprinting room could hear. I bet we could do some serious damage to his credit rating if we wanted to
Ordinarily, when dealing with government bureaucracies, I take a good book along to read during the wait. But, from all I've read, fingerprinting at the Seattle office is quite quick; so I didn't bother this time. I was right.
There are about 5 fingerprinting machines in the room, each with a technician. When I went in, they were calling ticket 185. I'd barely waited 10 minutes when my number was called.
My technician seemed to have the sniffles, but she faced away from me every time she sniffed.
The fingerprinting machine is rather like one of those self-service checkout things you see at grocery stores these days. There's a screen, and a glass panel over which they roll your finger instead of scanning a grocery item. The technician spritzes what looks like cleaning solution on the glass every couple of fingers.
The technician rolls your finger over the glass, and the fingerprint appears on the screen as she does. The machine seems to check whether the print is good enough; it shows a warning and beeps if necessary. The technician then redoes the print if a warning popped up.
After she was done with all ten fingers (miraculously she didn't even notice my skeezy bruised nail), she asked me to wait, fill out a customer satisfaction card while I waited, and then hand it to her. With the awesome power USCIS holds over me, I wasn't about to take chances with a non-secret customer feedback form. I put down an attaboy on everything. No doubt some USCIS representative will use these feedback cards as propaganda while he's being grilled by a Congressional committee. A secret survey of immigrants' opinions about CIS might produce slightly different results
While I was filling out the card, a Quality Assurance technician reviewed the prints. They then put down their signature and ID number on my fingerprinting notice.
With this process, I doubt if the FBI sends back very many prints because of their quality.
I was done. I was handed back my fingerprinting notice and Green Card, and exited the building.
The whole thing had taken 45 minutes. I had driven into the parking lot at 2:30 and was driving out of there by 3:15.
Overall, this experience was better than I'd expected.
Mailed N-400: 10/27/06
Priority Date: 10/30/06
Check cashed: 11/2/06
Postmark on FP notice and receipt: 11/7/06
FP: 11/21/06
Interview notice: ?
Interview: ?
Oath: ?
Last edited by a moderator: